Fun story about @MahanChip and @neilunderwood... Back in 2012 when I was at @sparkcapital, I sent a cold email to @MahanChip to learn more about what he was building with @LiveOakBank (as I really liked their approach of focusing on industry-specific SBA loans)... https://twitter.com/dhaber/status/1283095576909885440

I told him I had an idea for a tech-enabled SMB lending business that I was thinking of starting with a friend of mine ( @epeytons). He said... in his Kentucky twang ... "Let me tell you a story..."

"In the 90s, back when I was building S1 (early digital banking co) I got an email from two young guys out of Stanford.. I never took that meeting...and it turned out to be Paypal. So I learned a long time ago to listen to young people with big ideas! C'mon down to Wilmington!"

. @epeytons and I decided we would drive the 9+ hours down to the @LiveOakBank HQ in Wilmington, NC from New York City -- just in case he decided to invite us to dinner (we didn't want to spend the extra money and have to rebook flights )...

We get to their campus (which is absolutely beautiful btw).. and it's filled with an army of extremely cheerful / happy young people. There's a lake / a beautiful gym w/ personal trainers... it was unlike any bank or certainly most startup offices I'd visited...

Chip says, "You know, one of my philosophies in business is that you first need to take care of your folks... If you take care of your folks, they'll take care of your customers... if they take care of your customers... you'll take care of your shareholders..."

After a great first meeting, sure enough, Chip invites us to dinner... He asks us when our flights were... and we're like -- "Actually, we drove." He was like, "Y'all Yankees drove?!?!?!" "Yep ."

That was the beginning of a friendship that's lasted to today. And while we haven't (yet) officially worked together -- careers are long :). Chip, Neil and the rest of the LiveOak / nCino team continue to inspire...

They scaled @LiveOakBank to be the largest SBA lender in the country (displacing the mammoths like JPM and Wells) and took the company public ($LOB) back in 2015.

They always saw the opportunity to leverage the bank as an incubator of sorts to pressure test new ideas and technology. Very early on they began building their own loan processing software to help manage the very complicated / document intensive nature of SBA lending...

That was eventually spun out and incorporated as @ncino which just went public today...

They've also set up @CanapiVentures and pulled in other amazing fintech folks like @JeffreyReitman and @walkerforehand.

Endlessly inspired by entrepreneurial stories like these. And find comfort in knowing "careers are long" and that it all starts by "taking care of your folks." Hats off to you Pards!!! cc @MahanChip @neilunderwood